


Kenopsia

by Novaviis



Series: Watercolour [8]
Category: DC Animated Universe, Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Cuddling, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Light Angst, M/M, Mutual Support, Team Bonding, This is so soft, dog piles, let them be teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-09
Updated: 2016-11-09
Packaged: 2018-08-30 00:12:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8511322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Novaviis/pseuds/Novaviis
Summary: Wally and the Team spend the night waiting for a call from Batman to tell them whether or not Robin is dead. For one night, they're just teenagers. They're scared. But they're scared together.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a short and sweet little bit that takes place after The Bird And The Worm. You don't really need to read it to understand, it sort of speaks for itself, but check it out if you'd like.

 

Kenopsia

 n. the eerie, forlorn atmosphere of a place that’s usually bustling with people but is now abandoned and quiet—a school hallway in the evening, an unlit office on a weekend, vacant fairgrounds—an emotional afterimage that makes it seem not just empty but hyper-empty, with a total population in the negative, who are so conspicuously absent they glow like a neon sign.

 

 

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Barry and Wally didn’t often take walks together. There had been countless cross country sprints, full of idle banter, but never just – walking. And Wally was quiet, worrying Barry more than anything. Leaving Gotham Free Clinic, it seemed more and more like Wally had left part of himself behind. As they headed out onto the streets, in the sleepwalking hours, Barry placed his hand on Wally’s shoulder. “He’ll pull through,” he finally broke the silence.

Wally took a few moments to respond. “I heard you and Bruce in the hallway.”

Ah. Barry sighed, forgoing the hand on his shoulder to wrap his arm around his nephew as they walked, pulling the red-headed boy against his side. “I’m sorry, Walls,” he muttered. “No one should ever see someone you love like that, much less at your age.”

Wally faultered for a moment, his red rimmed gaze shooting up to his Uncle.

Barry only smiled, even the small expression dimmed by what they’d seen that night. “I know.”

Wally managed a nod. His torso shuddered, lip trembling as he stopped and drew up his forearm to his face. Barry shushed him, but let him cry it out. It was just the two of them out there on the street, the entire block desolate, walls high and closed in. Wally had been through more than his fair share of tight spots, seen bloodshed, and things that would make teens his age shudder. This, though, what he’d seen tonight—it was too real. Hit too close to home.

When Wally was able to breathe steadily again, he stepped back, rubbing his tears away. Barry gave his shoulder a squeeze.

“Come on, Kid,” he offered a smile. “I’ll take ya home.”

Wally shook his head. “I don’t want to go home, not yet,” he murmured. The thought of sitting in his bedroom, waiting for a call from Bruce to tell him whether or not his boyfriend was dead made his stomach churn. “I need to go to the Cave… tell the team, y’know?” At least then he would have company, friends who would understand. His parents would, of course, he had no doubt – but it wasn’t the same.

Barry seemed to understand this, because he made no argument. He patted the boy on the back, and they kept walking. “I’ll tell your Mom and Dad on my way home,” he offered. “And I’ll swing by the Cave in the morning.”

Wally attempted a smile. “Thanks, Uncle Barry.”

The nearest Zeta tube wasn’t far off from the clinic. Made sense, given the chance either of the Dynamic Duo needed medical attention when out of town. Down about four blocks, an old phone booth with the glass smashed in sat in a dirty alleyway. Entirely unassuming, it seemed to blend in with every other piece of abandoned furniture and garbage shoved out of sight. Barry and Wally stopped outside, Barry letting nephew go first with an affectionate ruffle of his hair. Wally tried to play along, to shove his hand away and laugh at his embarrassing Uncle, but his heart just wasn’t in it. Stepping inside the phone booth with his hands in his pockets, a mechanical voice came out the receiver. Wally could still see Barry outside the few dirty glass panes remaining.

_“Recognize. Kid Flash, B03.”_

It was a feeling he was used to by now – his senses dulling to one nameless colour, and entity he couldn’t quite put into words – as light swirled around him and swallowed him whole. Within seconds, he was deconstructed and reformed again, teleported into the massive cavern inside Young Justice. He heard the mechanical voice repeat itself for the Cave’s inhabitants as the light dimmed.

Wally hadn’t taken more than two steps away from the zeta-tube, eyes on the ground and his hands still in his pockets, before he was accosted by one of his teammates.

“Wally!” M’gann called out, floating toward him. “I thought you weren’t going to come until tomorrow morning!” she said as she landed. The team often spent time at the Cave on weeknights when they weren’t on patrol with their mentors, finding it a good space to finish school work. Weekends, however, were dedicated to missions unless they were needed urgently during the week, and do the team would amble their way back to their headquarters by Saturday mornings. The Martian beamed up at him. “Come on, Kaldur and Artemis are here already, we were going to put in a movie. Conner’s really gotten hooked on Star Wars, but Artemis wants to watch The Breakfast Club, so they’re having it out over which one to watch. Got a preference? Oh, and I’m making some…” It took a moment or two longer than she was proud of to realize that Wally’s face was pale, and his eyes were red – he had been crying. “Wally? Are you-“

“Fine,” Wally said, before she could ask and he could lie. “I’m fine, I just…” he trailed off, “you said everyone’s here, right?”

M’gann nodded, though her excitement had faded into concern. “Yes, except for Raquel and Zatanna, they couldn’t make it. So, everyone but Robin. Should we wait for him?”

Wally let out a long sigh between his teeth just to hold himself together. He couldn’t find it in himself to answer, just managing to shake his head before he walked passed M’gann and toward the living quarters. True to M’gann’s word, Artemis and Conner were currently locked in a heated argument on the couches, their respective DVDs in each of their hands. Kaldur was standing at the kitchen counter, trying to discreetly throw out a bag of burnt popcorn. The scene took a pause when Wally walked in with M’gann, his unexpected appearance catching Artemis’ attention. It was his red eyes that kept it there.

Artemis frowned, ignoring Conner (much to his indignation) as she stood to face her friends. “Wally?”

The room went silent. Wally could feel their eyes on him like needles in his skin, and he couldn’t help shrinking a bit. His shoulders hunched forward, eyes catch downward. It was a tense moment before he could stand straight to face them. Still, he just couldn’t figure out what to say. He hadn’t thought about it, hadn’t prepared how he was going to tell them. Wally took in a deep breath. “Robin was shot.”

Breathlessness swept the room. Every face dropped into variations of the same expression: shock, disbelief, and fear.

“I-I don’t understand,” Connor said, though it was very clear that he _did_ – just didn’t want to. “We get shot at all the time, what-“

“He wasn’t shot _at_ Conner, he was shot!” Wally burst. “Point blank! Right through his Kevlar, he was _bleeding out_ with a bullet in his chest! Right there in front of me. He’s _dying_!”

“Wally,” Kaldur’s voice was calm, but there was no mistaking the slight tremor. “What happened?”

He couldn’t tell them. Wally came to the realization like a bucket of cold water over his head. He couldn’t tell them that he had seen Batman himself pull the trigger. Mind control or not. “I don’t know the whole story,” Wally ended up replying slowly. It was the truth. “I got there just as – it happened, he was already down.”

“And Batman?” Kaldur pressed.

“Is with him. He said he’d call,” Wally reached up to rub the back of his neck. “He… he might not make it through the night, guys.” The words were punched out of his chest.

 Artemis fell back onto the couch. Conner braced his elbows on his knees and let his head drop between his shoulders. All of them just needed to take it in. No words. What could they possibly say?

M’gann was the first to speak up, her own voice tight in an attempt to keep her tears at bay. “So… what do we do now?”

Kaldur sighed, his gaze sweeping over his team. “Now we wait.”

That was all there was to it, really. Artemis, Connor, Kaldur, and Wally took up the couch, each lost in their own thoughts for the first half hour. Wally sat with his cell phone clenched between his hands, staring at the screen. The silent was unnerving, however, and eventually without any argument, Kaldur put in Finding Nemo. No one complained. It was – relaxing, as much as anything could be.

M’gann tucked herself away behind the kitchen counter, focusing on the treats she had been making for movie night – cupcakes frosted to look like little “aliens”, or what the earth thought of them anyway. The little green faces and big dark eye were adorable, in her opinion, and it was better to keep her hands busy, better than thinking about other things. Until, of course, suddenly, the countertop was covered in cupcakes that no one was going to eat. Even she wasn’t hungry. With a sigh, she telekinetically packed them away and put them in the fridge. Maybe they’d have a Get Well soon party for Robin.

M’gann did leave one cupcake out, though. Wally rarely turned down food with his metabolism, and she hoped it might make him smile, just for a moment. Carrying the lone treat around the counter, she walked toward the couches only to pause when she realised the speedster was nowhere in sight. “Where’s Wally?”

Artemis lifted her head from where she’d been resting against Kaldur’s shoulder. She’d slumped there, curled up next to him until he had offered his arm. “He wandered off about five minutes ago, didn’t say where he was going. I’d have thought he would be back by now,” she said.

“Have you told Zatanna?” Kaldur asked.

At the mention of her girlfriend, Artemis sighed and checked her phone. “I sent Zee a text an hour ago asking her to call when she gets the chance, but she hasn’t read it yet.”

Kaldur nodded. “I managed to contact Raquel. She is unable to make it to the Cave tonight, but will come by as soon as possible in the morning.”

“Looks like it’s just the five of us, then,” M’gann muttered. “It fits, I guess. We’ve known him the longest.”

On the adjacent couch, Conner growled under his breath, running his hand back through his hair. “This waiting is going to drive me insane.”

Artemis’ eyes narrowed. “Yes, Conner, it must be so hard for _you_.”

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Conner snapped. “I mean… we are some of the strongest people on Earth, part of the _Justice League_ and there’s nothing we can _do_! There should be something we can do, this shouldn’t happen-“

“Sadly my friend, I cannot agree with you,” Kaldur cut in. “As some of the strongest people on Earth, this is the price we pay. The risk we take every time we don our uniforms. Power does not mean immortality.”

Conner shook his head, his shoulder dropping as Kaldur’s words sunk in. “That doesn’t make it easy to accept,” he whispered. “I can deflect bullets, but… Robin always seemed like the indestructible one, out of all of us.”

“Yeah,” Artemis murmured, pulling her knees into her chest.

Silence hung over the room, a dark cloud suffocating the words before they could leave their throats. The blue light and soft music from the TV filtered through in beams. Finally, M’gann let her gaze drift to the door of the room. “I’m worried about Wally,” she said.

“He did witness it,” Kaldur nodded. “He may be having a more difficult time handling this. After all, he and Robin have been close friends since they were ten years old.”

“No,” Artemis shook her head as she sat up, casting Kaldur a sad, knowing smile. “That’s not all. Trust me.” With that, the blonde stood up, following M’gann’s gaze out the door. “We should go find him. He shouldn’t be alone.”

“I don’t know,” said M’gann, “maybe he wanted some time alone.”

“He shouldn’t have to.” Artemis bit her lip for a moment, brows furrowing in thought. “But I have a feeling I might know where he is.”

The five of them ended up on following Artemis’ hunch right to the sleeping quarters of the cave, passing by room and empty room and empty room, occasionally stepping by one of theirs. The entire team had bedrooms at the Cave whether they lived there or not. Down the dark hallway, one door had been left slightly agar, allowing soft light to pool on the floor outside. Artemis paused, pushing the door open slowly to find Wally sitting on the bed – in Robin’s bedroom. She’d been half expecting to find him crying his eyes out, hiding away so no one would see, but no. He was just laying on Robin's bed, having turned on a dim florescent lamp on the bedside table, looking down at something.

“Hey,” Artemis whispered as she stepped into the doorway, not quite entering yet. “You okay?”

Wally didn’t seem overly surprised or disappointed that he had been found. He looked up from what so clearly had his attention. “Oh uh, hey,” he said as he sat up. “Sorry, lost track of time.”

Artemis nodded. “Can we come in?”

Wally gestured to the limited space. “Suit yourselves.”

The team filled in, Aqualad taking up the chair by the desk while Conner leaned against the wall. M’gann and Artemis crawled onto the bed on either side of Wally. “What are you doing in here?” M’gann asked as she looked around the room. It was plain, for the most post. The walls were bare, but the desk was covered in bits of gear, broken bataraangs and tangles of wires. The bed was pushed up against the wall in the corner of the room, the only colour being the blue duvet.

Wally leaned back against the headboard. “I went for a walk to clear my nerve and ended up just wandering in here,” he admitted.

M’gann leaned over his shoulder. “And what are you reading?”

Wally shifted a bit at that, clearing his throat. “It’s ah, uh… dumb birthday present I made for him a few years ago. Found it on his desk.” In Wally’s hand was a bulky back scrapbook covered in little alpaca stickers. The binding was well worn, fraying at the edges. Clearly well loved. Wally had been spending the past hour flipping through the pages, smiling every once in a while and putting up no resistance when a tear would slip down his cheek.

The team didn’t seem to know how to respond to that. Their curiosity was evident, but none of them were willing to ask about such a personal gift. Wally opened to the first page again. [“Do you guys want to see?”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AfYK1fKngU)

Within minutes, all five of them had piled onto the bed. Wally settled against the pillows, between Artemis and Kaldur, with M’gann stretched out, laying over Wally’s leg to rest her head in Connor’s lap, who leaned back on the wall next to Artemis. The bed was entirely too small for five teenagers, forcing them to dog pile onto one another to fit, but with a bit of subdued laughter and a bit of elbowing, they managed to get comfortable.

The scrapbook was a hot mess of glue, crinkled papers, and various dollar store craft supplies. Glitter, pipe cleaners, and googly eyes refused to let the pages lie flat. Each page had a picture of Wally, or Robin, or both. Wally told them how when he’d given the gift to Robin, they’d spent an hour going through every page and drawing sunglasses on him, so that he could read it at the Cave. It had dissolved from standard shades to grand sharpie designed on the both of them, full of swirls and stars and hearts. As the pages went on, hearts covering their eyes became more and more popular.

The room was completely dark save for the little florescent lamp on the night stand, casting a blue-ish tint. Every time the light caught the glitter practically crumbling off the papers, the room would glow for a moment, thousands of little stars reflected onto the walls and ceiling.

Every picture had a story. Some pictures, Wally’d had to contact ‘Agent A’ for, like the ones when Robin was just starting out. Those were fewer though. The real bulk of it began when the two of them met. There were photographs of the two of them in street clothes, snapping shots of each other at a park, having sleep overs, playing video games, just – being kids. Friends. Wally had added little blurbs on each page, like their high scores, the amount of times they’d both ridden a rollercoaster before throwing up cotton candy and funnel cakes. As they went on, they got – sweeter. Most of them had spaces where Robin had written in response. Wally told them every story, but not everything needed to be said.

They stayed like that for hours, spent the entire night like that. When they’d gone through the book, up to the point that the team had been formed, the conversation began to drift off. Crammed onto one bed in one dark room, with glitter stars orbiting on the walls, the five of them talked about their first impressions of Robin, funny stories, times he’d saved their lives and time they’d saved his. And sometimes the conversation drifted away from Robin entirely. That was okay. For a few hours, they were teenagers, spilling their hearts out to one another, because their friend was dying and what else were they supposed to do?

Through it all, they felt Robin’s absence like a gaping hole, a void that could not be filled. His voice was a harmony that made their laughter sound incomplete. Had he been there, he would have thrown himself right into the center of the bed, his slender frame slotting perfectly into place there.

They ended up falling asleep, one by one drifting off as the conversation grew quieter and quieter. By the time everyone was out, they were in entirely different positions and places on the bed than when they’d began, a dog pile of tangled limbs.

Wally woke up at 5:30am to the sound of his phone vibrating on the nightstand. It was a slow process, blinking bleary eyed through the darkness in an attempt to find the disturbance. When he saw the cracked screen of his phone lit up, with “B” glaring up at him – Wally turned cold. In trying to untangle himself from the others, he managed to wake up the whole team, who groaned and protested one by one.

Wally scrambled off the bed, grabbing the phone and stumbling to the other side of the room, his back to his friends. By that time, the reality of what was happening had sunken in. Everyone was awake, their hearts shuddering as Wally took the call they’d been dreading all night. The light of the lamp cast Wally’s shadow against the wall and onto the ceiling, like a giant looming over them. No one breathed.

Wally couldn’t answer the phone fast enough, bringing it up to his ear and running his hand back through his hair. “Hello?” he swallowed hard.

Wally didn’t saw another word. Listening to the voice on the other end of the line, his hand dropped back to his side. M’gann’s palms flew to her mouth, tears rushing forth as she assumed the worst. Conner was quick to pull her gently against him, holding her tightly.

“Yeah… yeah, okay, I understand… no, no I’m with them now, I’ll tell them. Yeah… thanks, B,” with that, Wally ended the call, stuffing his phone into his back pocket. He didn’t face the team yet. Using the sleeve of his shirt, Wally wiped at his eyes and sniffed, trying to take in a steady breath. Finally, just when the other collectively feared they might break, Wally turned.

There was life in his eyes and that was thing to tip them off. Wally looked like he was somewhere on the threshold between laughing and crying, and there was life in his eyes rather than the dead gaze they’d feared. “Robin woke up,” Wally said in a rush. “He’s not in stable condition, he’s not safe just yet, but… oh my God, he woke up, he pulled through.”

Wally couldn’t quite remember when he started crying, or who had pulled him back into the pile on the bed, but if one thing was certain, he would never forget that night.

 


End file.
